Remembering Madhu Limaye

Madhu Limaye  

May 1, 1922 -January 8,1995

 Madhu Limaye was born over 100 years ago, on May 1, 1922 at Poona in Maharashtra.  It was a historical coincidence that he entered into politics at a very tender age when he joined a May Day procession in Poona in 1937 which was attacked violently by RSS volunteers. On 8 August 1942  the All-India Congress Committee session was held in Bombay. This was the first time when Madhu Limaye saw Mahatma at  close quarters. Many senior leaders of the Congress party including Gandhi were arrested on the very next day . Madhu Limaye  went underground along with some of his colleagues and played key role in underground movement along with Achuyt Patwardhan and Aruna Asif Ali. He was closely associated with the Indian National Congress, and the Congress Socialist Party. He was a distinguished parliamentarian, champion of civil liberties, a prolific writer who wrote a number of books including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, a Historical Partnership, 1916-1948: 1942-1946. (Vol. I—Vol. IV). In a sense  he was  responsible for the collapse of the Janata government by insisting that no member of the  Janata Party  should simultaneously keep a membership  of an alternative social or political organisation. This attack was directed  towards  those members of the Janata Party who were  members of Jan Sangh and RSS. He wrote an article on RSS soon after the split in the Janata Party in 1979 in the Hindi weekly Ravivar. The many of the issues he raises in the article are still relevant in contemporary India. To read the article click here https://sabrangindia.in/article/what-rss-madhu-limaye-age-old-enemy